When Social Media Bites

In a recent Q&A session with elementary school children, President Obama discussed the power of social media: "Be careful what you post on Facebook," he warned. "Whatever you do, it will be pulled up again later somewhere in your life."

The presidential message, however, might do more good if it was targeted at adults. Grown-ups don't seem to be using social media any more wisely than kids. There are plenty of embarrassing and sad examples of adults behaving badly: the crook who got caught because he checked his Facebook page at the home he was burglarizing, Second Life affairs and
Google
Maps views of street crime.

It also appears that adults may be suffering from "oversharing" and self promotion online. A study from
Harris Interactive
for CareerBuilder.com found that 45% of potential employers screen candidates via social media, up from 22% last year. Thirty-five percent of employers say they found reasons not to hire a person based on information they found on social network profiles.

Connor Riley committed a career blunder when she tweeted this message: "Cisco just offered me a job! Now I have to weigh the utility of a fatty paycheck against the daily commute to San Jose and hating the work." An employee at the telecom networking company spotted the post and informed Riley that she'd pass the tweet along to her hiring manager. Riley told MSNBC that she ended up turning down the opportunity.

These online acts of idiocy are even more embarrassing when you consider that adults are now using social media technologies at a faster rate than kids. According to Nielsen, Facebook gained 24 million new monthly visitors age 35 to 49 last year. The Palo Alto, Calif.-based social network also added about 14 million new visitors age 50 to 64, but gained only 7 million visitors under 18.

All told, a survey from the Pew & American Life Internet Project says that the percentage of adult Internet users who have profiles on social networks quadrupled to 35% in 2008 from 8% in 2005.

Younger adults aged 18 to 22 are perhaps more cynical about social media, More than half of college students surveyed in a San Diego State University study said they view social networks as vehicles for self-promotion. This has prompted many young adults to become more prudent about the information they share online and how they share it.

To be sure, kids are doing and saying stupid things online. But they have an excuse: They don't know better and they must be guided. Unfortunately, it's not easy to do the right thing when their elders are making the same--or even worse--mistakes.